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Data was constructed by DoctorNoonien Soong and, like the majority of Dr. Soong's works, was modeled after Soong's own likeness and mimicked the human form in impressive detail. Data's design included an ability to grow hair and a pseudo-cardiovascular system which produced a pulse and breathing, but rather than pumping blood, distributed biochemical lubricants and regulated microhydraulic power and temperatures throughout his body. (TNGepisode: "Birthright")

Data was built with an ultimate storage capacity of eight hundred quadrillion bits (approximately 100 petabytes) and a total linear computational speed rated at sixty trillion operations per second. (TNGepisodes: "The Measure of a Man", "The Offspring")

As his neural net was composed of anti-electrons (positrons), and throughout the nervous system, his body gave off an aura on a wavelength only visible to a humanoid wearing a VISOR. (TNGepisode: "Heart of Glory")

Despite his impressive abilities and specifications, Data always desired to become more human but often struggled to master various aspects of humanity, such as emotion, humor and contractions. As part of his quest to become more human Data kept a pet cat, Spot.

The dream of creating an android like Data dates back to as early as the 22nd century when Dr. Arik Soong, having failed in improving humanity by means of genetic modification, decided to begin development of a cybernetic lifeform. (ENTepisode: "The Augments")

He had fully expected that he would not be the one to see the completion of this task; indeed, it was not until Arik Soong's descendant: Noonien Soong, under the tutelage of Ira Graves (Data's "grandfather") and with the assistance of Juliana Tainer (Data's "mother"), that a fully-formed android was created. (TNGepisodes: "The Schizoid Man", "Inheritance")

Despite his quite extensive ancestry Data may consider his crewmates aboard the starshipsEnterprise-D and -E more of a family and had a particularly strong bond with his friend Geordi La Forge.

In 2366 Data created a new android, his daughter Lal, in her short life Lal successfully achieved a far greater level of human emotion than Data had yet managed and she remained in his thoughts for many years following her death. (TNGepisode: "The Offspring")

Nechayev's rank of rear admiral (with two pips on her collar) is inconsistent with her rank of commander at nearly the same time in Rogue Saucer.

Data took the first-year course Ethics and Moral Principles, in which cadets debate the topic that life everywhere was sacred. However, Data was unable to form an argument against the hypothesis, as it was against his programming, and failed the course. (TNGnovel: Survivors)

In 2343, Data completed an engineering honorarium at Utopia Planitia. A year later, he piloted the shuttle Curie from Earth to Utopia Planitia, ferrying a number of Starfleet officers and one civilian, the nine-year-old Kathryn Janeway. After arriving, he took Janeway on a tour of the facility. (VOYnovel: Mosaic)

At Starfleet Academy, he undertook the Priam IV test as part of admission to the graduating class. Although the test required cadets to be hypnotized into believing the test was real, Data could not be fool and could even the see the holodeck walls. Therefore, he allowed computer experts to program the experience directly into his mind, an experience that he found disturbing due to the loss of mental control and later sudden return. It took him several days to reconcile the conflicting memories, and finally resolved the paradox by denying access to the real events. (TNGnovel: Survivors)

He remained an ensign for three years and spent ten-to-twelve years as a lieutenant before he was recruited for a survey mission by CaptainJean-Luc Picard aboard the USS Portia. (TNGnovel: The Buried Age) During this mission, Picard encouraged Data to assert himself and work beyond what his superiors request of him; prior to meeting Picard, Data had shown a lack of career advancement because he always did the job in front of him simply because it didn't occur to him to push himself further or ask for particular assignments over others, adhering to the chain of command without thinking of going beyond the rules. Inspired by Picard's advice, Data was not only able to determine the true abilities and motives of the Manraloth, Ariel, but expose and thwart her plans to sabotage the Galaxy-class starships with a quantum virus that would have added various minor faults to their designs while rendering Starfleet computers unable to detect these flaws. As a result of his efforts, Data was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in 2360 after the conclusion of the mission (TNGepisodes: "Datalore", "Clues") (A meeting of Starfleet Command had to specially approve the promotion. (TNGnovel: Survivors) He subsequently served aboard the USS Trieste (TNGnovel: The Buried Age), although he was assured that there was a place for him on a Galaxy-class starship when he wanted it for his role in saving them.

On stardate 41590.8, Data was part of an away team to the planet Tigan. After discovering a planetary conspiracy, the team were attacked by Tigan security forces. Tasha Yar and Will Riker were taken into captivity while Data was taken to a Tigan facility where one of the Tigan conspirators, Edic, attempted to reprogram Data's positronic brain to erase his findings and report back to the Enterprise with only a positive experience of the planet. Fortunately Data's mind proved too resilient for this tampering and the attempt was unsuccessful. Data was freed from the Tigans when Edic rebelled against his fellow conspirator Kadec after seeing the error of his ways. The experience left Data contemplative, his memory so perfect, maybe that could be the key to him learning to be Human. (TNGcomic: "History Lesson")

In Survivors, in 2364, Data gives his age as 26 in Federation Standard Years, which corresponds to the date of his reactivation by the Tripoli in 2338, rather than the earlier date of his creation or new memories.

He later went on an investigative mission to the planet Treva with Lieutenant Tasha Yar. They met with PresidentNalavia, with whom he attempted to flirt on Yar's suggestion. After Yar disappeared, Data was forced to carry on alone, and was taken on tours of the city to meet with survivors of the terrorist attacks and visiting schools. Meanwhile, he infiltrated the Presidential Palace, explored its computers, analyzed the data he found, and searched for Yar. Finally he escaped the palace and headed to the castle of Warrior's Rest in a stolen flyer to rescue Yar, but he was captured by a quoghart net he did not notice. There, Data shared what he'd learned about Nalavia’s Riatine water treatments and fake terrorists. Though conflicted by their duty to the Prime Directive, he and Yar participated in planning for the liberation of Treva, and in the defense of the rebel stronghold. He also began a relationship with Pris Shenkley, a mercenary working for fugitive ex–Starfleet officer Darryl Adin. Data later discovered information exposing Nalavia's schemes.

Following the mission, Data remotely accessed the Starbase 36 computer in order to find and examine files related to Adin's conviction in 2359. Delving deeper, he interfaced with and finally merged completely with the computer to recover deleted files from the Standard Unlimited Virtual memory system, something that could only be done by an android. He virtually drowned in conflicting information from the starbase and was left unconscious, but was fortunately discovered and restored by LieutenantGeordi La Forge. He discovered that the files had been tampered with and exosed the Orion plot that had framed Adin, exonerating him. (TNGnovel: Survivors)

In 2371, Data was forced to play a deadly game with the entity Redjac when he took over Enterprise-D 's computer as part of his revenge. Redjac used the Enterprise-D 's holodeck to recreate Victorian London using Data's Sherlock Holmes program. Redjac tried to make Data feel fear. At first, Data was not able to stop Redjac from killing officers such Ensign McKenzie. Data was able to save Counselor Troi from Redjac. Data and LaForge were then able to devise away to stop Redjac. Data was then able to find Redjac in a warehoused named "Montgomery & Sons" on Scott street, which Data saw as reference to Redjac's time on the original Enterprise. Data and Laforge were able to seal Redjac within a photon torpedo.(TNGcomic: "Embrace the Wolf")

In 2374 during the Dominion War, Data and the crew of Enterprise-E were then sent to the Gorn homeworld to try and form an alliance between the Federation and the Gorn Empire. Data was left in command of the Enterprise after a coup occurred on the surface and Capt. Picard, Counselor Troi and Dr. Crusher went down to the surface. Data then held the Enterprise's fire against the one of the Gorn warships. Data then destroyed the Gorn warship. Data then informed Starfleet command and Adm. Connolly of the situation with the Gorn. Connolly told him that Starfleet could not send any reinforcements to him. Data was then contacted by the coup leader, Slessshh, who wanted the Enterprise to surrender or he would kill Capt. Picard, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi and the rest of the away team. Data however refused to do so saying that Slessshh was underestimating the human's strength. Data then decided to beam down, unarmed to the Gorn council chamber to demonstrate his point. Data then called Slessshh and the gorn weak. Data, at the behest of Capt. Picard, then challenged Slessshh to fight him. Data was able to defeat him and force the gorn war fleet to stand down.(TNGcomic: "The Gorn Crisis")

In 2377 Data served as technical advisor during the development of the highly experimental USS Incursion. He joined the Incursion's crew in the shakedown cruise testing the Incursion's holographic systems and subsequently found himself in the midst of the Warden plot to take over the galaxy. During the crisis he was recalled to Earth to help decode warden transmissions and was almost assassinated by Warden agents, fortunately he was rescued by the Incursion's crew and rejoined the vessel to help bring down the Wardens. (TNGvideo game: Away Team)

In 2378 Data was assigned to the USS Sovereign to assist in the investigation of the Vesuvi Event. It was discovered that a rogue Cardassian faction was responsible. Data received orders from Vice AdmiralLiu to track down the device that the Cardassians were using to destroy star systems. A device was located on Alioth VI, but unfortunately, the Sovereign was discovered and attacked by a Cardassian fleet, forcing the crew to leave Data behind on the hostile planet for several months. He was recovered by the crew of the Sovereign and later was able to establish a dialogue with the Kessok after the Sovereign's captain initiated a peaceful first contact. After the conflict in the Maelstrom region was resolved, he returned to the Enterprise. (TNGvideo game: Bridge Commander)

In Bridge Commander, Data was referred to as commander; it might have been possible that he was promoted to acting commander for his assignment aboard the Sovereign.

In 2379, he commanded the Bravo team mission to infiltrate the nadion-pulse cannon firebase located in the Solasook Peninsula on Tezwa. The mission was successful after Data was able to interface with the base computers allowing him to send false signals forcing the crew to abandon the base. It was on this mission that Commander Riker was kidnapped and held captive for one month. During Riker's captivity, Data served as acting first officer of the Enterprise. It was Lieutenant Vale's belief that Data went without any rest for this entire one-month period. (TNGnovels: A Time to Kill, A Time to Heal)

After Riker's return, he approached Captain Picard about taking crew of the Enterprise with him to the USS Titan. Picard was fine with this except that Riker was not allowed to take Data as Picard felt that he had earned his chance to become first officer of the Enterprise. (TNGnovel: A Time for War, A Time for Peace)

In 2382, a USS Titan crew member remarked that the Daystrom Institute had been trying to recover the mind of Lieutenant Commander Data for almost three years. (TTNnovel: Seize the Fire)

In 2384, Data's memories were transferred into a new body designed and constructed by his father who at first transferred his own consciousness into the body in an effort to prolong his life for a continuation of his work on androids. This body was human in appearance and was even able to give off Human lifesigns, it was overall a better body than the one Noonien Soong had made for Data on Omicron Theta. Soong had originally planned on resurrecting Data with a body even more advanced then the one he made for himself, but mid construction, which was during the Borg invasion, Soong's lab was destroyed in a Borg attack. Being reset to square one, Soong had no choice but to seek out other methods. Unfortunately, he found he was unable to make a new body in time to save Data's memories. Having ony one option, he came up with a way that would save B-4 and bring back Data in exchange for his life. His plan was put into motion at the last possible moment due to the sudden kidnapping of all the Soong-type androids. Having chased the ship who stole the androids to a K class planet and indirectly soliciting help from Enterprise, Soong went with an away team to recapture the androids from the Breen. After dispatching the guards, Soong upgraded B-4's firmware so Data's memories would survive the transfer to Soong's own android body. When the transfer was successful, Soong deleted himself to allow Data to take over the new body. Though Soong had deleted his own consciousness, his collective knowledge and memories are still accessible to Data. After his ressurection, he transported himself and his old compatriots onto Soong's ship, Archeus, and hailed the Enterprise, requesting permission to land. Picard rendezvoused with them in the landing deck; Worf being the first to descend from the ship, followed by La Forge, B-4 (carrying Lal) and, finally, Data, whom Picard had initially 'mistaken' as the same person he had seen on Galor IV. After a tearful, albeit brief reunion, Data denied Picard's offer to reactivate his commission. Later, while preparing to leave, Data professed his reasons for doing so to La Forge, who had come to see him off. Data proclaimed that he is not the android his friends had once known, but, rather, a new model or updated copy of his former self. Before entering the Archeus, he leaves La Forge a quantum particle entaglement device, which, he explains, can be used to contact him immediately. He goes on to say that when he is ready, he will come back for Lal, whose body will be stored in a secure vault beneath Starfeet Command headquarters in San Francisco. Data then declares to La Forge how he intends to find Emil Vaslovik, who had revived Juliana Tainer after her total cascade failure, and inquire how to repair a positronic matrix after such an event, so that he may revive Lal. (TNG - Cold Equationsnovel: The Persistence of Memory)

In November2385, Data, Shakti (Archeus A.I.) and Commander La Forge contacted Galen to discuss duplicating the Doctor's mobile emitter. Barclay, back on Galen, was happy to see his formerly dead friend Data resurrected. The Doctor confirmed the mobile emitter was non-replicable. (TNGnovel: The Light Fantastic)

In 2390, Jake Sisko came aboard the Enterprise for an interview with Data. Data gave his thoughts regarding future Borg attacks and whether Species 8472 had reached Federationspace; the captain refused to discuss the events of his "recovery." It should be noted that in the transcript of the interview, Data uses a verbal contraction, whatever it may mean. (STwebsite: The Path to 2409)

Sometime before 2409, Data led a mission, characterized as an 'impossible task', into Fluidic space in which the mission resulted in an 'incident'. Data and his crew survived, although, this became known as his last command of the Enterprise-E.

Though it isn't said directly, it is likely the Enterprise-E was lost on this mission.

In 2409, Data was working at Oxford University, occasionally consulting with the Daystrom Institute. When Va'Kel Shon, formerly of the USS Belfast, was offered command of the USS Enterprise-F, he met with Data in an attempt to offer it back to him. Data refused, citing his 30+ years service aboard the Enterprise as come to pass, and instead maintained that Shon was better suited for the role for the times. After the meeting, Data, alone, entered a highly secured, private lab where he was working on an identical android in a mustard-colored jumpsuit, whom, after activating a positronic circuit, called the android "brother". (STOshort story: "Unexpected Honor")

It is likely Data was working to recover his brother B-4. Data, at this point, was already in B-4's body, thus the android he was working on has yet to be explained.

In an alternate timeline, Doctor Soong's dream became a reality and hundreds of Soong-type androids were operational within the Federation. Data fought for android rights and, after winning them, he and a group of others separated from the Federation to establish their own society. They settled on Iconia and began to explore their abilities.

In another reality, Data served as the first officer of the US Enterprise, under the command of Wesley Crusher, prior to his death at the hands of the Reman usurper Vkruk in 2379. He was succeeded by Jean-Luc Picard, who had previously been the second officer.

Data is one of few prominentStar Trek characters to not have an established mirror universe counterpart, although his absence is usually at least partially explained through accounts of the mirror counterpart of Noonien Soong. In the parallel universe of Q & A, Lore replaces Data.